New Surface Dock Does Not Work via mini displayport to HDMI & DVI

Anonymous
2015-10-27T17:18:04+00:00

The specific device I am referring to, is the new Surface Dock for Surface Pro 3/4 and Surface Book. I have described the issue here on Reddit, and a number of others are also experiencing the same problem. Basically, the new dock doesn't work when the monitor is connected using mini displayport to HDMI. The monitor is detected correctly and the correct resolution is set, but the screen remains black. In my case, I randomly get some image on the monitor, but it's compressed to one side of the screen and garbled. The mini displayport to HDMI adapter works properly when connected directly to the Surface, so the adapter itself is fine. If I instead connect the mini displayport to VGA adapter to the dock, the monitor displays correctly. I have tried using a straight mini displayport to DVI cable and the issue remains. Additionally, I have connected a Surface Pro 3 to the dock and experience the same issue.

So to summarize, the dock does not function correctly when using a mini displayport to HDMI adapter to connect the monitor, but does work with a mini displayport to VGA adapter. This problem is repeatable using both a Surface Book and Surface Pro 3.

Surface | Accessories | Surface Dock

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Anonymous
2015-10-29T17:45:57+00:00

I purchased an active mDP to HDMI adapter from Amazon (Plugable is the brand) and so far the external monitor is working correctly through the dock.

Moderator Edit (11/3/2015):  If you are using a passive MDP to DVI adapter and experiencing difficulties, you may need to switch to using an active adapter.

If you switched from a passive to active adapter and continue to experience difficulties using Surface Dock to display to external monitors please consider making some changes to your cabling: different lengths, different quality, different adapters, etc.  If adjusting your cabling fails to resolve please consider sharing the following:

  1. Make and model of external displays
  2. Make/model of adapters if present
  3. Make/model of cables

For more troubleshooting info and steps to confirm your Dock is updated, please view our Troubleshoot Surface Dock article.

Thank you,

Josh

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Anonymous
2017-05-22T09:18:50+00:00

Hi,

 We suggest that you contact our Surface Answer Desk team for further assistance or visit the nearest Microsoft Store if you are in the US. In case you're offshore, contact our Global Customer Service team.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-04-05T19:09:04+00:00

    It's been a while since anyone has posted here.  I continue to have the problem of the 2 monitors working on the Surface Book dock.

    I've tried the miniDP-VGA - didn't work

    I've tried the miniDP-HDMI cable (not adapter) - didn't work

    Now I can regularly get one monitor to work at a time.  If I even plug the second monitor into the dock neither monitor comes on.

    What usually works for 1 monitor is to have that one only plugged in when I connect the SB to the dock.  If that monitor doesn't come on, then I unplug that monitor and plug in the other monitor and it sometimes works.

    I've tried THREE separate docks.  Same issues.  I'm going to contact Microsoft again today since I have a few hours to waste to try again to get this working.  I'm losing so much productive time and can't afford to take much more time to solve this problem.

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  2. Barb Bowman 80,805 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-03-23T11:33:32+00:00

    there's no individual driver download page, you have to grab the whole zipfile and extract the driver you need.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-03-22T21:11:52+00:00

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